red onion

All posts tagged red onion

Do you ever get sick of your same old boring lunch? Maybe not. But maybe you want to try something new, possibly a little healthier or fresher than that café in your building that serves pre-wrapped sandwiches. Do you even know when those sandwiches were made?

I wanted to try out a few vegan sandwich recipes to serve at my girlfriend’s baby shower in a few months. Yes, I’m already planning! One of the best things about this sandwich is that there is absolutely no cooking. Use store-bought hummus if you like to make this even quicker (I made a classic creamy hummus, though a roasted red pepper hummus would be fantastic!). I also used a store-bought 8-grain bread, but this would be even better with a thick cut gourmet bread. Don’t forget to lightly salt your veggies before assembling your sandwich; you wouldn’t believe how much of a difference it makes.

The original recipe calls for pomegranate molasses, but my grocer didn’t carry it, and I didn’t want to make a special trip to find it. I just went with regular molasses, and I thought this sandwich was absolute heaven! Even Nate liked it, so don’t be afraid to feed it to your meat loving kids or hubbies! The thinly cut crisp veggies paired with the smooth savory hummus is awesome. The drizzle of molasses really brings it all together and knocks it out of the park. I know it sounds a little weird, but trust me – it adds SO MUCH with just a tiny drizzle.

1. Lightly toast bread (this is optional, but I like a little crisp and warmth in my bread). Spread each slice with hummus. Layer one slice of bread with arugula, cucumber, tomato and red onion. Drizzle lightly with molasses and top with second prepared slice of bread.

I’m a very traditional stuffing kind of girl. Nate likes sausage in his stuffing. We made two last year so we could both be happy. This year, we’re not hosting our family for Thanksgiving, but we did celebrate the Saturday prior with our very good friends from Wisconsin.

I thought this would be a fantastic opportunity for us to branch out and try a new stuffing (or dressing as my grammie called it). Since our friends are not picky eaters whatsoever, I was excited to try something new. Maybe it would become our new favorite kind of stuffing…

The stuffing was good, but there were a few things I would change for the next time I make it. I used sea salt focaccia, which I think worked well, but onion would have given it a little more flavor (I couldn’t find any and didn’t have time to make my own). Also, the 1-inch dice was a little large for me, I would have cubed the bread in 1/2-inch pieces. Finally, the fennel and onion pieces were too large as well, so I would have diced instead of sliced them. So the only thing that really affected the flavor of the stuffing was not using the onion focaccia. Oh, and over toasting it. I followed the Food and Wine instructions to toast it for 30 minutes, at 375 degrees, stirring once halfway through, but it was far too much time. My bread did get a slightly over toasted (which wasn’t an issue for consistency, but for flavor), and that flavor translated into the stuffing. I altered the recipe below so the same mistake doesn’t happen to you.

I’ll be making this again in the future, and with the improvements, and I’ll post a picture then. With all the commotion, I didn’t get a chance to get a halfway decent picture – but enjoy of picture of us enjoying it 😉 And in case you’re wondering, yes, we did enjoy our Thanksgiving dinner in our pjs!

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread focaccia on a large rimmed baking sheet. Toast until dry and golden around the edges, about 15-20 minutes, stirring halfway through. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.

2. In a large skillet, melt 2 tbsps of butter in the olive oil. Add the fennel and onions and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until very tender, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme and fennel seeds and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Scrape the mixture into the bowl with the focaccia. Add stock and toss until bread is evenly moistened. Season with salt and pepper.

3. * See note. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees. Butter a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with 1 tbsp of butter. Transfer stuffing mixture into the baking dish and top with remaining butter. Cover with foil, and bake until heated through, about 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes longer, until the top is golden and crisp.

* If you are stuffing your turkey, now would be the time to stuff it and bake stuffing with turkey. Don’t forget to adjust your turkey cooking time if it’s stuffed (it’ll take longer).

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About Me

Success and fails, I'm documenting my cooking and baking adventures. I enjoy making healthy, exciting, and generally simple food, although I may stray from time to time. I'm also a beginner brewer, so I'll share my beer triumphs and tribulations as well.